Popcorn Personification Story

Objective of this assignment:

You will use creative writing skills and descriptive language to write a story that includes the literary technique called personification. Personification is when a writer gives human traits to animal or object. In this assignment, the personification will be given to a piece of food.

We will use this assignment as a way to introduce the writing process, as we will be using it to write essays throughout the year.

These are the steps you will follow to complete this assignment:

  • Prewriting: You will be given a piece of popped popcorn to use as a model to practice personification. Draw a sketch of your piece of popcorn. Give it a name and a personality. Introduce your popcorn to the class. We will then read aloud the picture storybook Eat Your Peas, Ivy Louise. This will be a model for the type of writing we’ll be doing. Choose a food that you would like to personify. Write a list of at least 5 events that can happen to the food in your story.
  • Draft: Write a rough draft of your popcorn (or other food) story. Use at least 3 of the events you listed in the prewriting activity in your story. The style of the story should be cute and charming. You may include other characters and dialogue. Pay special attention to choosing the best words (verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs) to tell your story.
  • Revision: When you complete your rough draft, conference with a peer in the classroom. Read each other’s stories. Comment on at least 5 areas of the story that could use some clarification. The purpose is to help your partner reflect on his/her writing and end up with the best story he/she can write. Use a green pen or pencil for revision. Things to look for during revision:

Organization—Does the story “flow?”

Word Choices—Good descriptive language and verbs.

Ideas—Is the story entertaining?

  • Edit: Re-write your story as a “dress rehearsal” for your final draft. Have a partner edit this draft. Editing checks for errors in grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. Use a red pen or pencil for editing.
  • Publishing/Final Product: You will write your story neatly in black or blue ink, or type it at home and bring in a printed copy. We may share these stories by reading them out loud to the class.

Turn in the rough draft (with revision and editing marks)

along with the final copy.